Back in the game, I'm still the big devil

"Click", "click"——

The shutter sounded and the flash flickered frequently.

Roy naturally waved to the photographers and fans, showing his signature charming smile——

This is the annual team unveiling ceremony at the start of the Tour de France.

As the defending champion, Roy, wearing the "No. 1" number plate, waved to the reporters and fans present.

In 22 days, wearing a yellow jersey ① and holding champagne, he will ride down the Champs-Elysées ② in Paris to the finish line - he will win the Tour de France.

In recent years, every summer in the hot land of France, such a play will be staged.

Roy, the most talented road cyclist in the past 20 years, the "big devil" who has monopolized the Tour de France championship for several consecutive times-this championship is also in his pocket.

Yes, Roy has this confidence.

"Snapped--"

A hand clapped Roy's shoulder.

"Boy, where is your place!"

A red-haired driver pedaled the car over, patted Roy on the shoulder, and pointed to the corner of the field.

"This is Nick's place."

There was a bit of mockery in the voice of "Red Hair", but the tone was still very gentle.

"It's your first Grand Tour, no wonder."

Roy gave an obedient "Oh" and kicked his left foot lightly, and the racing car under his seat was like a swimming fish, gently sliding towards the position pointed by "red hair".

The number plate on his body is not "1", but there are two digits behind it, which together make up the number "143".

He is no longer the "big devil" of the Tour de France who has won the championship several times.

Roy suffered a very tragic crash at the end of his career.

After the crash, he lost consciousness, and when he opened his eyes, he found that he had returned to 17 years ago-the year when his career just started.

At this time, he was an unknown pawn in the "Tour de France" and a rookie who participated in the Tour de France for the first time.

One by one, Roy's teammates took to the stage.

The team's current captain, Nick Neville, was the last of the team's eight players to play.

Nick Shi ran onto the stage, pedaled his racing car, and came to the "C position" of the team. Like Roy just now, he happily waved to the reporters and fans in the audience.

Roy turned his face away, just in time to see Nick blinking at a blond female car fan under the stage, and gently blowing a kiss.

Roy had to feel sorry in his heart.

- Nick Neville is not a successful main player.

Roy remembers very clearly: this Tour de France "Team Continental" did not have many gains in overall results.Only Neville, under the "escort" of all his teammates, barely won a stage championship, saving some face for the sponsors.

A few years later, Nick's marriage failed and his career was ruined by illegal drugs and scandal.

But now, Nick is enjoying himself.As the core of the team, he was being interviewed by reporters and made the bold statement that he "regards the yellow jersey as something in his pocket".

Roy really wanted to reach out and knock himself on the head: what was in his mind back then that made him choose this "Land Team".

He wasted three years in the "earth", and was suppressed for three years-it was not until later that he became famous and became a shining "supernova" in the car world, winning the name of "genius" in people's mouth.

Roy's red-haired teammate whispered at this time:

"Roy, it's time, you take the lead, go down from the other side of the stage, we have to go to the starting point to prepare."

"okay--"

Roy took the lead, pedaling the racing car under his seat, and slid down the side ramp lightly and delicately.

As long as he pedals his racing car, Roy is like a fish swimming in the sea.In an instant, he mixed into other convoys preparing to go to the starting point - here he saw an extremely familiar figure:

Arthur Wilson.

If the "big devil" Roy had an "enemy for life", it would be Arthur.

Their careers started almost at the same time. Roy was called a "genius", while Arthur was recognized as the top of the car world by relying on hard training and tenacity.

Among the three major Tours, Roy is the absolute "King of the Tour de France" and can beat Arthur every time. The victory record is properly surpassed by Roy.

Therefore, Roy and Arthur will always be a pair of chasing each other and never giving in to each other in the annual ranking of the overall performance in the car world.

Because of this, Roy cherishes the opportunity to compete with Arthur every time. It seems that only by defeating Arthur severely can he really win the game.

As long as he saw Arthur, Roy would be inexplicably excited, and his strong desire to win was aroused-this time was no exception.

At this moment Arthur was at the end in a daze.In his "Baolai" team, his teammates seem to be busy preparing for the upcoming race, and no one cares about greeting this novice.

Roy is used to saying hello to his "old opponent" before the game, so he kicked his feet lightly, came to Arthur, and patted Arthur on the shoulder like an old friend:

"Arthur, old chap—"

Arthur was patted on the shoulder suddenly, shaking his whole body, turned his head to stare at Roy, but asked with a puzzled look: "Excuse me, are you—"

It was only then that Roy realized that he had made a slip of the tongue.

Now everyone is new to the Grand Tour for the first time, and Arthur doesn't know him at all.

Roy groaned secretly in his heart. Under Arthur's sharp eyes, he was as embarrassed as he wanted.

"Mr. Arthur Wilson? I'm your fan!"

Thanks to Roy's ability to adapt to changes, he was able to come up with such a reason.

Arthur was completely dumbfounded: "My... fans?"

He looked at the number plate on Roy's body: No. 143, while Arthur's was No. 176 - Arthur's "Baolai" team is a new star, and this year he was able to participate in this competition only after he got a "wild card". Tour de France.

"Yes, I know you're British, settled in London, started road cycling at 16, turned pro at 19, and this year you're doing your first Grand Tour..."

It's too easy for Roy to pretend to be a fan. He knows Arthur's resume fluently - in fact, he has done a lot of research on Arthur's riding habits, sprinting habits, various gestures, and even eyes. The saying "Know yourself and the enemy and you will never be imperiled in a hundred battles" is not casually said.Sometimes Roy just had to look at Arthur to know what he was going to do next.

"I watched you train in Belgium last year...you probably don't remember me anymore."

Roy said eagerly——in the previous life, the two of them would have to wait until they became famous before they gradually got to know each other, and once they got to know each other, they were already equal opponents.

"This……"

Arthur's eyes were full of shock - he should have never thought that he would meet such a "fan boy" in the Tour de France.

"You, your name is..." Arthur asked dryly.

Roy heaved a sigh of relief, knowing that he had made the lie.

He quickly stretched out his hand: "My name is Roy. My surname is 'Roy'. They all call me Roy, not Roy Roy."

Roy has half of Chinese blood from his father.

"Please call me that too!"

Roy's eyes shone brightly, revealing the appearance that a "lost boy" should have.

This expression bewitched Arthur, he nodded, shook hands with Roy, then looked at Roy's graceful jersey, and nodded slightly.

"Roy, good luck!"

Arthur didn't say much, and after the two shook hands, he bid farewell to Roy, and pedaled his car to catch up with his companions.

Roy finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Dealing with this guy is exhausting!

Even seeing such enthusiastic "fans", Arthur was almost indifferent.

Yet Arthur Wilson was such a man, serious, straight, and unsmiling.

Nobody or anything can affect his game.

Even Arthur's handsome appearance was discounted because of his personality, making it daunting.

He was neglected by the car industry for a long time because of his "boring interest". It was not until he successively won the championships of the "Giro d'Italia" and "Vuela West" that he was gradually recognized.

Arthur is known for his strength.

Roy, on the other hand, came out of the circle with talent.

Wherever Roy goes, he is the darling of the media——

He has an extremely photogenic face, his sports have given him an extremely graceful body shape, and his family environment and education background have added a kind of urbane demeanor to him.

Therefore, he has always been hailed as the noble son of the car industry and a social expert;

Unlike Arthur, he was a star, a heartthrob, a target of the spotlight—

But all of this will not be realized until he has made some achievements.

The game was about to start, Roy fastened his helmet and adjusted the volume of the earphones to an appropriate level.

The voice of the team's head coach, Victor Marswell, came from the headset.

"Children, according to the tactics arranged before the game-Roy and Mikel, the two of you tried to rush to the front at the beginning of the game..."

The head coach said it more tactfully. What he meant was that Roy and his red-haired teammate Mikel will try to be "rabbits" in today's game.

"Rabbit" in road cycling competitions generally refers to one or several riders who surpass the main group and rush to the front during the race.

The purpose of becoming a "rabbit" is either to win the stage championship, or to give the sponsor a face-because the driver galloping at the front must have the highest exposure rate in the entire race.

However, being a "rabbit" means spending more energy.

Some research institutes have made precise measurements: riding in the main group and following teammates can save about half of the power compared to riding alone in front.Sometimes in a large group, you don't even need to pedal. The "airflow" generated by the vehicle in front allows the vehicles behind to follow easily.

Roy, who was released as a "rabbit", will consume a lot of energy in the first stage of this Tour de France.

Sprinting bravely in the first stage is obviously not good for the following schedule.

Roy rubbed his chin and smiled.

In his previous life, he had been a "rabbit" under Victor for three years, so he was naturally aware of Victor's tactical intentions.

He is a "cannon fodder" thrown out by the head coach.

The main player Nick is the core of the team's tactics.

But this is also extremely normal - he is still a "newcomer" and should be treated as a "rabbit" and let out for fun.

At this time, all the contestants have started to ride at a constant speed on the warm-up track with the navigation car.

Like a slippery loach, Roy slid around in the traffic, trying to find the most suitable position for sprinting.

Now that the "big devil" has become a "little rabbit", he wants to be a "rabbit" that surprises everyone.

The author has something to say: there will be more terminology and tactics involved in the first few chapters, and the speeches may be longer, and there will be fewer later chapters.

①[Jersey]: In road cycling events, the runners with the highest total score will wear a jersey of a special color. The Tour de France is a yellow jersey, which is usually referred to as "yellow jersey".The color of the jersey is different in different races, the jersey of the Giro d’Italia is the pink jersey, and the jersey of the Giro d’Italia is the red jersey;

In addition, the number plate of the defending champion is "1".

②[Tour de France schedule]: The Tour de France consists of 21 stages, with two rest days in between, so it takes a total of 23 days to complete the race.

According to tradition, in the last stage, no driver will challenge the overall champion.Therefore, the championship is a leisure trip on this day. You can ride a bike, drink champagne (dangerous action, please do not imitate), and accept the cheers of the audience.

③【Three major ring races】respectively:

Ring France (TourdeFrance); Ring Italy (Girod'Italia) and Ring West (VueltaaEspana).

Among them, the Tour de France has the longest history and is the most prestigious, but these three are extremely exciting cycling races.

——————————————————————————————————

Two more sentences about the author's real experience in watching road cycling races.

I started watching the Tour de France in 2013, and in 2014, I watched the entire schedule because there were Chinese drivers participating in the Tour de France.

This year, I finally saw a little way, and finally stopped watching the Tour de France as a French landscape film-it is a collective sport that emphasizes teamwork and tactics.

In 2016, I went to Marseille, France to watch the European Cup. At that time, the weather was so hot that I could only hide in the host’s house and watch TV every afternoon. I couldn’t understand anything else, so I had to watch the live broadcast of the Tour de France.

Later, I developed the habit of watching the Tour de France every year.

This year's situation is a bit special: this article was originally intended to be published in the summer-because the 2020 Tour de France was originally scheduled to start from Copenhagen, I could go to see the scene.

However, due to well-known reasons, the schedules of several major ring races this year have been completely disrupted, and they cannot be seen on the spot.This year, I watched the live broadcasts of the Tour de France, the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta in one go.The athletes contributed one wonderful game after another under quite difficult conditions, and there were frequent reversals. It was almost difficult to guess who would win the championship until the last moment.

In particular, I would like to thank the athletes who fought hard on the field, thank them for bringing us such a wonderful sport.